


This Valentine's Day (As All Valentine's Days)

by edgewareroad



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Misunderstandings, No spoliers for recent episodes, Valentine's Day
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-19
Updated: 2014-05-19
Packaged: 2018-01-25 17:21:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1656377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/edgewareroad/pseuds/edgewareroad
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cecil and Carlos have radically different ideas about the nature of Valentine's Day. Confusion ensues.</p>
<p>I wrote the fluff I needed in the world right now!</p>
            </blockquote>





	This Valentine's Day (As All Valentine's Days)

Carlos knows it’s a ridiculous thing to say even as as he says it, but “Will you be my Valentine?” has left his mouth before he can stop himself.

In fairness, it’s been a ridiculous night. Almost every night since he arrived in Night Vale has been ridiculous, but now, with Cecil, they are the ridiculousness of daydreams and not necessarily nightmares. He is soppily in love, and they are _dancing_ in the tiny living room of Cecil’s apartment. Tomorrow will be Valentine’s Day, and he can’t remember the last time he felt this light and unguarded. So he asks the stupid, throwaway question.

The music plays on from a phonograph on the table beside the couch, but Cecil freezes suddenly. His eyes are wide with surprise. Carlos stumbles slightly and nearly treads on Cecil’s left foot. 

“I’m sorry,” Carlos hurries to add. He can feel the blood rushing to his face, making his cheeks feel warm—though not the pleasant kind of warmth he’d been feeling deep in his stomach only seconds earlier. He wants to _run_ , but he won’t do that to Cecil. “We’re not there yet. I get it. I’m—I’m sorry.” 

Cecil looks straight into his eyes. Carlos wonders if he should remove his hand from Cecil’s waist.

“No,” says Cecil at last, his voice oddly steely. “No, I will. Of course I will. Be your Valentine”

Carlos grins, despite himself, at how seriously and with what commitment Cecil has considered his goofy, offhand proposition. Cecil’s stiff posture melts into something relaxed. His face presses in against Carlos’s neck, and Carlos wishes he could feel a smile against his skin, but it just isn't there.

There is a strange frisson throughout dinner. 

Cecil plays with his food and eats very little. Carlos finds himself babbling just to fill the silence, and he’s frustrated with himself for talking experiments at the table and making the whole thing worse. When the dishes have been put away, he goes for his coat and his car keys.

“Stay?” Cecil asks quietly from behind him. He puts his hands on Carlos’s shoulders and helps him out of his coat. Carlos takes heart from the sweet, quiet gesture.

When they lay down, Cecil turns away from him, though he does press his back into Carlos’s chest. 

“You okay?” Carlos murmurs into Cecil’s hair. “I really didn't mean to push anything.”

“Carlos,” Cecil says, turning over to look at him. “Sweet Carlos. I would do anything for you.”

Carlos looks back, perplexed. Cecil’s eyes are so close. He would much rather let this go, pretend it never happened, but he doesn't have a choice but to clarify now, with Cecil looking at him like that.

“This...You know that wasn't some weird euphemism, right? _‘Valentine?’_ I didn't mean that I wanted to...I wasn't trying to be _possessive_ or imply anything, you know, _kinky_...I just—Did you just _shiver_?”

“Perhaps a bit,” replies Cecil noncommittally. The long fingers of his right hand curl into a tight fist against Carlos’s back.

“Are you—Cecil, are you _afraid_?” 

Cecil shrugs, his jaw set. Carlos is horrified. He feels suddenly naked in his cotton boxer shorts, too exposed. He scrambles to sit up. He fails to understand how his innocent, if slightly besotted, question could have brought them to this place, but here they are. Something is very wrong.

“Is it the commitment or…?” 

“No, of course not!” Cecil laughs. Carlos is relieved for a split second, but then his face grows dark. “It’s just...the excruciating physical pain and…I thought I would perhaps die someday, but not necessarily _tomorrow_ , and…”

“Oh.” It is only then that Carlos realizes that this has been a Night Vale thing and not a relationship thing all along. “Oh, Cecil. No.”

Cecil is staring up at him, confused and wary.

“Outside of Night Vale—Where I’m from,” Carlos begins in a rush, “asking someone to be your Valentine is harmless. It’s just something you say, like an endearment. There’s no actual, binding commitment or _horrifying event_ or whatever you’re thinking of involved. You, you know, sometimes exchange little cards or...or chocolate—”

He changes tack quickly at the look of horror that dawns on Cecil’s face. 

“It’s just a sentimental thing. Just a title. Like asking someone if you can call him your ‘boyfriend.’”

“So…” Cecil begins uncertainly, “so, you have to fill out paperwork?”

_You filled out paperwork?_ Carlos wants to ask, but the whole thing is too dangerously close to going off the rails. He’s going to have to explain himself, _express his feelings_ , much as it pains him.

“All I meant was that I feel—” and he finds he can’t look at Cecil and say it, so he averts his eyes, “I feel close to you. I’m happiest when I’m with you. Happier than I've been in a long time. Maybe...maybe ever. All your quirks and the little things you say, I think of them at work sometimes, and...I guess I make faces, because they make fun of me—the team does. And they call me—Well, that doesn't matter, but obviously, I don’t want you dead. I—I just want you safe and...and here with me.”

A small and frankly embarrassing noise escapes Cecil’s lips before they are suddenly pressed to Carlos’s. 

As Valentine’s Day dawns, there may be wreckage all over town, but Cecil Palmer sleeps peacefully, curled around his scientist, a smile pressed into his neck.


End file.
